The FBI, under Director James Comey at the time, is accused of taking shortcuts in its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State in a recently declassified report from the Department of Justice’s external monitoring panel.
The report, known as the Clinton annex, is an addition to the DOJ Inspector General’s 2018 examination of the Clinton email probe and was made public by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. Grassley claims that the annex validates long-standing worries that the FBI did not thoroughly look into the possible national security ramifications of Clinton’s email practices.
In a statement, Grassley said, “This document demonstrates an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI’s investigation of former Secretary Clinton’s email usage and mishandling of highly classified information.” The FBI neglected basic investigative tasks under Comey’s direction and left important pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor.
Since 2018, Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) had advocated for the declassification of the annex, and they renewed their call under both the Trump and Biden administrations. With the assistance of Trump appointments Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, the report was ultimately released this month.
The FBI allegedly got a thumb drive with potentially sensitive information on it, including files from the State Department, correspondence from former President Barack Obama, and possibly even legislative material, according to the annex. Notwithstanding its contents, the report asserts that the FBI did not conduct a full investigation into the disk or evaluate its potential national security ramifications.
Senior FBI officials, including former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former agent Peter Strzok, are also blamed in the report for allegedly choosing not to look into the matter further. Again, no further investigation was conducted despite the DOJ watchdog’s suggestion that the Bureau possessed intelligence indicating interactions between Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the then-chair of the Democratic National Committee, and individuals associated with the Open Society Foundations, which were funded by Soros.
The annex backs up allegations that important leads were overlooked and the Clinton probe was ended too soon. In 2018, Comey finally cleared Clinton, a move that at the time received harsh condemnation from Republicans.
This material is finally being revealed after almost ten years in the dark, according to Grassley. I implore the FBI and Justice Department to thoroughly examine this issue, taking into account its implications for national security. The American people are entitled to transparency and answers.
It is anticipated that the disclosures would rekindle discussion over the FBI’s handling of politically delicate investigations under the Obama and Trump administrations.
